Page 31 of His to Protect
“Please. I can’t leave without her.”
“I’ll order Anil’ha to get her. We can’t go back. This floor is collapsing.” I look behind and he’s right. Everything falls apart, pieces of metal flying all over. We reach the end just in time to get out, everything collapsing behind us. We pass through a small opening in the wall, Ka’el sealing it behind. The roaring sound stops and everything seems quiet now. “This won’t hold for long. We have to abort the ship,” he says in a grave voice. He is worried. I’ve never seen him like this and it scares the shit out of me.
“Ka’el, I love you,” I say between my cries. I’ve gone from extreme happiness to utmost terror in an instant.
“I love you too. We’ll be ok. I promise. I need to get to the control room. There’s a portal there and we can escape this ship. It won’t hold much longer.” We pass through cabin after cabin, closing every door behind us. We don’t stop running.
“Ka’el… Emma. I can’t leave without her. Please,” I beg him, my eyes full of tears. I just can’t abandon her. She’s my best friend, and she’s been there for me through hard times. I promised her and I can’t go back on my promise. I would never forgive myself if anything happens to her. Ka’el keeps running and I rest my head on his shoulder, looking backward. The walls collapse behind us and everything seems to melt away in the flames of the explosion. It lasts only seconds, but to me, it feels like an eternity. It’s like time has slowed down and I have the sensation that we’ve been running for a very long time. There are no other aliens but us. I wonder where everyone else is. Did they all die?
“Anil’ha, do you hear me?” Ka’el uses his wrist communicator and tries to contact Anil’ha. There’s no answer for a few moments. Ka’el tries again and runs as fast as he can to escape the wave of the explosion. I did not realize how fast he can run and how strong he is, considering he carries me in his arms.
“I can hear,” Anil’ha’s voice speaks through the communicator. That makes my heart smile. He’s alive and he can get Emma too.
“Where are you?” Ka’el asks him. When he hears Anil’ha’s voice, Ka’el’s face lightens up. I can see he’s happy to hear his friend is alive. He doesn’t want to admit, but he cares for Anil’ha. The run never stops and this fucking spaceship is huge.
“I’m heading for the control panel. Emma and Catleya are with me. We’ve been hit and the ship’s about to disintegrate. The portal… we need to cross over.” Anil’ha sounds worried, and he’s gasping. His breath is quick and short. They’re together and Emma’s alive. I want to dance with joy if it weren't for the fact that we’re about to become roast meat.
“Good. Meet you there. We’re going that way too. If you reach it first, ask Catleya to enter the code for Vexar,” Ka’el tells him.
“What’s Vexar,” I ask.
“It’s a peaceful planet,” he says. “We can go there for the time being.”
That sounds like a good plan to me. All of us together, going somewhere safe. I mean, I hope we’ll be safe. I hope we’ll be able to reach the control room in time. I think about my baby and it freezes my heart to think he might never have the chance to meet his mum or dad. No, that can’t be. We have to make it alive.
We keep running for a little longer and then we reach a square-shaped door that does not open. Ka’el kicks it again and again, trying to break it. “It won’t open. I need to blast it. Cover your head,” he says, his tone agitated as he grabs the weapon attached to his leg. He shoots once and the door breaks open, the metal twisting to form a crack big enough for us to go through.
“Are we there yet, Ka’el?” I ask, and Ka’el put me down so we can go through the opening. I scratch my arm on a piece of sharp metal and the blood surfaces my skin, flowing down between my fingers. I tear a piece of fabric from my robe and wrap it around the cut, pulling hard on it with my teeth to stop the bleeding.
“Any moment now. Let me help with that,” he says, tying the piece of fabric tighter around my wound. “It should be right here.” He stops in front of yet another door and enters a code that unlocks it. We’re there. We’ll make it. Anil’ha, Emma and Catleya are already there. I run to Emma and hug her, a smile on my face. She hugs me back and I can see she’s been crying.
“We’ll be fine,” I try to reassure her but I’m not so sure myself. The wave of the explosion appears to have slowed down somewhat, but I don’t know for how long. Maybe a minute or two, or maybe less. The reality is that if we don’t pass through the portal right about now, we’ll die.
“Catleya, enter the address for Vexar. That’s where we’re going.” Ka’el approaches them and pats Anil’ha’s shoulder. I know he’s happy to see him safe and sound. Catleya keeps trying to enter code after code and the FUCKING system just shows an error. “The system must be down. Enter emergency mode. That should bypass the error,” he tells her. Catleya keeps pressing buttons and entering codes.
“Done,” she says and I can see a small led light blinking green. “Error bypassed. Now let’s go to Vexar,” she says, looking at us. “Only two can pass through the portal at the same time. Ka’el, you take the human and pass first. Then Anil’ha and Emma and I’ll go through last.”
“Are you sure? We can try passing all at the same time. Maybe it’ll work. I don’t know if there’s enough time to wait.” Ka’el gazes at Catleya as she initiates the portal. The metal parts of the circle spin fast, creating a sphere of bright light in the middle.
“It won’t work. There’s not enough power for all of us to pass at the same time. It’s ready… Ka’el, go NOW,” she shouts. Ka’el takes my hand and we step into the bright light. I’m terrified to go into the light, but I trust Ka’el and I know he wouldn’t do anything that would harm me or our baby. Everything around me becomes a bright light and I close my eyes to protect them. The intensity of the light is so strong that it hurts my eyes. I can still feel Ka’el’s hand holding mine. “Don’t let go,” I shout.
“Never.”
It feels like we’re floating and traveling with the speed of light, the sensation similar to a Montagne Russe. Similar… because we’re going so fast that it makes my heart beat so fast that I think I’ll soon have a heart attack if this doesn’t end. My head gets so dizzy, my ears hurting from the pressure. I cannot breathe and my chest hurts so badly. I keep my eyes closed and slowly drift away to complete silence and darkness. Not a sound around me. Am I dead?
